Tamper Tantrum

We’ve made it a habit the past few years running to release what we feel is a particularly special or insightful video right before the holiday season in the hopes that it sneaks into your (sub)conscious as you think about the year coming to a close and think about what it is you want to achieve in the year ahead.

There’s been a lot written this year questioning who we are as a community, what it means to work in coffee, and what’s coming next. Many of the questions seemed to focus on where we are as an industry: are we on the fourth wave, or the fifth wave? The sixth? What’s a wave, anyway? Although she’s “not the ‘wave oracle’,” returning speaker Trish Rothgeb is credited creation of the phrase “third wave coffee” (FlameKeeper, 2002) and has often been asked to give her take on the state of the industry. 

Here, recorded at our event in San Francisco, Trish delves into what inspired her to talk about coffee in waves all those years ago – something until now that she has previously brushed off in conversation - and what it means for coffee’s future. We hope this talk inspires you not only to learn more about the history, concepts, and people that Trish highlights in this talk, but also to impact how you think about coffee, our industry, and the work that needs to be done.

---

Trish Rothgeb is the co-founder, owner, director of coffee, and roastmaster at Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters in San Francisco.

Her experience in the industry spans over 30 years as a coffee roaster, green coffee buyer, and teacher of all things coffee. An avid traveler in coffee growing regions worldwide, she teaches “cupping” to coffee producers and coffee professionals around the world. She is also credited with coining the term “third wave coffee” and identifying the relevant concepts.

Trish is a licensed Q Grader and credentialed Q Trainer by the Coffee Quality Institute. She has served on the SCAA’s Roasters Guild Executive Council, was a charter member of the World Barista Championship Board of Directors and a founding member of the Barista Guild of America.

From 2013 to 2016, Trish worked on staff at the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) as the “Director of Programs: Q and Educational Services,” in addition to her work with Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters.

This week, newly crowned World Barista Champion Dale Harris and long-time coach, friend, and all-around troublemaker Pete Williams take the lead on No. 93 to share stories about the lead up to this year’s WBC and the somewhat unexpected result. This one is definitely longer than usual, but for good reason – there’s lots to cover, despite the relatively short amount of time they had to prepare between the UK and WBCs. Together, they chat through ideas left behind, their (dys-)functional working relationship, “the Harris process”, the goals they worked diligently toward during their eight weeks of preparation, and more – including (for those who know where to find this sort of thing) the answer to the question that everyone has been asking. Yes, that one.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

It's all go here at TT HQ as we prepare for the upcoming weekend festivities in Manchester whilst simultaneously preparing for the WBC in Seoul (Jenn) and getting ready to embark on a five country book launch tour (Steve) - with long days and lots of travel over the past few weeks for both Steve & Jenn, we thought it was time for a good old-fashioned skype catch up before getting on the show officially back on the road! 

No. 92 is a catch all for upcoming fun - our second year of the Brubiaceae coffee beer home brew competition and a new alcoholic twist on our industry-focused evening panel at the Manchester Coffee Festival, naturally - but also a place for us to speculate and anticipate how the most recent rule changes could impact this year's World Barista Championship. Hop in and (try to) enjoy the sleep-deprived ride!  

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

We’re back this week with No. 91 and, goodness, we have quite a bit packed into this episode: we’ve got guests aplenty! We kick off with an update from the field with Ale Martinez of Finca Argentina, where they’re working hard to squeeze in as much planting and preparation as possible before the harvest starts whilst also managing the impact of the recent spate of hurricanes. Ale himself is joined by a guest – Chris Lee of Café Demitasse in LA – who is spending a month on Finca Argentia to get a feel of farm life.

After a quick Argentina update, we move onto the core of this week’s podcast: Jenn is joined by Ales Pospisil, co-founder of European Coffee Trip, to talk about their journey from home-coffee-geekdom to movers and shakers of specialty coffee media. As with previous “talking about coffee” guests with a unique view of the industry, there’s lots to ponder: is there a correlation between the growth of specialty in new locations and the enthusiasm for geekery? How do you maintain or renew your own enthusiasm and passion for your work?

We also look to the future with their newest (and biggest) project: The Aeropress Movie, a feature-length documentary about specialty’s strangest (and most engaging) brewing device, currently seeking funding via kickstarter.

www.nuovasimonelli.it/en

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by Diana Johnson of Taylor St. Baristas, who placed fifth in this year’s comp. Together with Diana, the panel chats through her choice of variety, the impact of innovation and research, and her 2017 endeavour to compete in every SCA competition. This sparks a much longer conversation about career progression, competition, and the institutionalisation of barista education: what does it mean to be a career barista? // Want to see Diana's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by Callum Parsons of Extract, who placed fifth in this year’s comp. Together with Callum, the panel chats through what it means to be “sustainable” and “seasonal”, which sparks a much longer conversation about the growth of our industry, profitability, and business. // Want to see Callum's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by three-time UKBC finalist Jana Slamova of Baxter Storey, who placed fourth in this year’s comp. Together with Jana, the panel return to the discussion of subjectivity vs. objectivity and the impact this idea had on this year’s presentation. This sparks a much longer conversation about how we quantify creativity, what the competition currently rewards, and the impact leaps in technology could have on our current approach to coffee scoring. Is creativity always useful? // Want to see Jana's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by Paul Ross of Origin, who placed third in this year’s comp. Together with Paul, the panel chats through Paul’s experiences as 2017 UK CIGS champion and the structure of his routine, which sparks a much longer conversation about traditional and non-traditional espresso cultures, expectations, and where the difficulty really lies when it comes to breaking through cultural barriers with coffee: is it harder to alter ingrained expectations or to create entirely new ones? // Want to see Paul's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by Will Pits of Sans Pere, who placed second in this year’s comp. Together with Will, the panel looks at what it means to offer a fun experience to the consumer, which sparks a much longer conversation about the role of service in specialty, the importance of being able to read your customers, and the language we use to communicate both internally and externally. Is the same customer always the same customer?  // Want to see Will's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/

We’re absolute and utter competition geeks, so we jumped at the chance to join SCA UK at this year’s first-ever Espressofest in Bristol, home of the UKBC semifinal and final rounds. Joined by some equally geeky friends – Cerianne Bury, Nick Mabey, and Jessie May Peters – we sat down with each UKBC finalist on Sunday, August 20, 2017 to learn more about their routines and chat through some of the conversations taking place within the industry this year.

Here, we’re joined by Dale Harris of Hasbean Coffee, who placed first and will go on to represent the UK at the WBC in Seoul next month. Together with Dale, the panel discusses everything from soil conditions and screen sizes to the value of competition, which sparks a much longer conversation about innovation, accessibility, objectivity vs. subjectivity, and the impact competition participation and success can have on a competitor and their business. Is the competition as strong as it once was? // Want to see Dale's performance? Find it here, courtesy of SCA UK! 

📷: @allthesinglelattes for @sca_uk

http://vamachinery.com/